Nautical destinations in Croatia – Korcula

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There is more than 60 nautical miles to sail around the entire island of Korcula. This big and the most populated island in Croatia provides sailors with numerous bays, coves and places to anchor.

If you sail from the island of Mljet, the north-eastern side of the island of Korcula will delight you with its diversity and 19 islets, the biggest of which are Vrnik and Badija. The archipelago next to Korcula is beautiful and it would be a waste not to visit it for a day trip by boat. For those with children it would be ideal to anchor near a sandy beach east of Lumbarda. Culture lovers can choose anchoring in the lagoon in front of the Franciscan monastery from the 14th century on the island of Badija or in some of the bays on the island of Vrnik known for its quarry which is no longer in function but still interesting to see.

As a place to spend a night, Lumbarda provides a safe mooring and less crowd in the peak season then Korcula which can be reached by bus or a rented car.

Sailing from Lumbarda to Korcula you will pass by a ferry port for ferries connecting the island and the continent (Orebic on the peninsula of Peljesac). During the season ferries sometimes run all day as a connection with the continent. Right after the ferry port there is a gas station. That industrial part (shipyard in Korcula and quarry on Vrnik) remind of the days when shipbuilding was at its peak an there was no sign of tourism.

After the cape Kriz you will find the first dock of Korcula in the bay Luka (porto Us). Anchoring is charged by the local port authority which will also take your garbage in the morning. You can reach the small dock by a dinghy and then walk 15 minutes to the town of Korcula. This mooring is cheaper than a mooring in the ACI Marina but there is no water and electricity and it can get crowded in the summer so swimming in that bay is not as romantic as it once was.

Korcula has an ACI Marina which is protected by a 200 m breakwater. If your vessel is safe you can take a tour of Korcula and its walls.

What to see in Korcula

You should visit the birth house of the sailor Marco Polo, the church of St Mark from the 14th century and 16 more churches with works by some of the great artists like Tintoretto and Bellini and Croatian artists like Blaz Jurjev Trogiranin, Ivan Mestrovic i Fran Krsini and the City Museum.

Moreska is a traditional sword dance with a colourful costume design. It is organized once a week for tourists and it’s worth seeing.

Sailing from Korcula to Vela Luka there are no big ports and they are mostly open to northern winds. Prigradica (built as a port for loading wine and oil from the old village of Blato) and Racisce (mooring with a stone pier of about 60 m) are the biggest places to dock between Korcula and Vela Luka and where you can buy food in a small market.

Vela Luka is situated on the western side of the island. This beautiful, big and safe port is a witness of hard work of the local people. The shipyard, the Olive Oil Factory and the Kalos resort show that this most populated place of the island could survive independently of tourism. You can get anything you need in Vela Luka. In its bay, the sea is not very clean so the locals tend to go to the islet of Proizd.

Gradina Bay behind the island of Gubesa is open to maestral, a north-western sea breeze. If you didn’t manage to find a berth in Vela Luka, here you can find one of the buoys offered by the Siloko restaurant (open from 1 May till 1 October; the owner is Zoran Barcot, tel 00 385 20 813 597). Tastes are different and I don’t like to recommend restaurants but I know that here my kids love to swim, the boat is absolutely secure and it was good to have a restaurant so I can recommend it because I had a good experience.

The southern part of Korcula is not interesting to those who want to party and be seen. So, in this part there are not many ships and this is a great route to choose during summer crowds and when the weather is nice. The part from Tri Luke to Brna is not very nice because the scenery is disfigured by villas which are all similar, especially the arcs on the terraces. The nature and the islets in front of these places on the south of Korcula have enough places for anchoring and swimming in the clean sea so it is ideal in the peak season if you want some peace.